An Early New Zealand Settler Talks about Birds



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I have never noticed it disturbing them. Perhaps Nature has provided

them with ways and means of keeping out of its way, and has made

the Owl the enemy of the rat, who in turn is the enemy of small birds.

There we have the balance of Nature again before the interference of

man. I have always thought, and still do, that the rats destroy a lot

of our native birds’ nests and eat both the eggs and young.


I will now tell you a little about the famous Huia, now extinct

(or supposed to be), but I still think there is a chance of finding

isolated pairs along the Ruahine ranges in the high, rough

country. Between thirty-five and forty-five years ago I used

to roam about the bush a lot on the Ruahine ranges pig

hunting, chiefly between the Manawatu Gorge and Mount Wharata,

and used to use what is known as the old Napier track, a track

used in the early days by both Maori and White before the Gorge

road was made. It was on this track that I saw my first pair of Huias

climbing about the limbs of a big rata-tree on the summit, and that

was the time I learnt their call. It was a very dark day and threatening

to rain, and I noticed afterwards that when it was dull and rain was

near it was the time I mostly saw these birds. Of course they were

always in pairs, and if any were about you could hear them calling. I

would imitate them and it would not be long before they would come

down quite close to me, sometimes on to the ground. They were

quite tame if you kept still. I saw about six to eight pairs altogether.

Of course I am not sure, I might have come across the same pair at

different times. Along this track there were plenty of old dead forest

trees—probably killed by the fires used by the travellers along this

track. These dead trees provided the Huia with his natural food. I

have always got mixed up which was the male and female. One has

the long curved beak and the other a short beak, and they both are

dependent on each other and would die if separated it seems. It

must be the male bird with the long beak, which he drives into the holes

made by the hu hu in the dead trees and pulls out the grub, and

Nature has made it dependent on its mate. It cannot get the grub

into its mouth, and passes it to the other, who breaks it up and divides

it between them, having to put the other’s share into its mouth. They

have a beautiful shaped body with slim, long, black legs, and they



